Navy Nudged: Local Officials Urge Feds to Clean Up Calverton Contamination

Local officials, advocates and residents are renewing calls for the U.S. Navy to clean up toxins used at the former Calverton-based Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant that are polluting local waters.

The alliance is calling for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to declare the former Grumman military aircraft manufacturing  plant a Superfund Site to help pay for remediation and protect the public from exposure. Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine wrote a letter to the Navy and federal officials pressing the issue.

“The time for action is well past due,” Romaine told reporters during a news conference at his Hauppauge office on Feb. 21. “This Navy has not moved forward to protect the residents. They have left their mess.”

The push comes after the Navy and Grumman agreed to a $406 million plan to address another plume of toxic chemicals emanating from the defense contractor’s former Bethpage plant that has been blamed for polluting drinking water wells about 50 miles away in southeastern Nassau County.

This would not be the first time that lawmakers have pressed the federal government to address the Calverton issue. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) urged the Navy in 2021 to devise a plan to address drinking water well contamination near the site now known as Enterprise Park at Calverton (EPCAL).

“These are things that will need to remain priorities for the Navy, and they must act,” Schumer said at the time.

Suffolk County Department of Health Services tests had revealed polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) well above New York State’s maximum contaminant level of 10 parts per trillion in wells near the former federally owned NWIRP, which closed in 1996.

The use of industrial-strength firefighting foam during past training exercises at the plant have been known to introduce chemicals such as PFAS into the surrounding groundwater. Exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse health outcomes in humans, according to the EPA.

Contaminants 1,4 Dioxane — dubbed “forever chemicals” because they take so long to break down naturally — have also been found in the area, further risking the public’s health, drinking water supply, local environment, and the Peconic River, officials said. The contamination prompted the state to issue an advisory for the public to not eat more than one fish caught from the Peconic River per month — and those with compromised health should not eat fish from the river at all. Officials said that was a first for the Peconic River and the first PFAS-related fish advisroy in the state.

The DEC said in a statement that the state agency is overseeing the comprehensive investigation of the NWIRP through the agency’s regulatory authority under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and State Superfund programs.

“The Navy is investigating the nature and extent of contamination of PFAS and potential source areas both at Calverton and off-site,” the DEC stated. “DEC will continue to work with state and federal partners and the community to ensure a comprehensive investigation and cleanup.”

Local officials hope that former U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), who was the congressman for the East End, will be able to help now that President Donald Trump appointed Zeldin as administrator of the EPA.

“Groundwater remediation, both on-site and off-site, is being conducted under the authority of the (EPA) authorized hazardous waste program, which includes cleanup requirements,” the EPA said in a statement. “The EPA will continue to coordinate with the DEC and the responsible parties to progress with the cleanup in accordance with federal requirements.

“Generally speaking, EPA does not list sites on the Superfund (National Priorities List) if they are being addressed under the RCRA hazardous waste program,” the statement continued. “The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) governs the management of solid waste, hazardous waste facilities and underground storage tanks holding petroleum products or certain chemicals. It is the EPA’s policy to defer placing sites on the NPL that can be comparably addressed under RCRA Subtitle C Corrective Action (i.e., hazardous waste cleanup) authorities. DEC has been authorized by EPA to administer this RCRA program.”

The U.S. Navy did not respond to requests for comment. But the agency last month agreed to test more Calverton residential drinking water wells that may have been polluted by toxins used at the NWIRP. Additional testing was called for after 128 homes in Manorville and Calverton with private wells previously tested positive for possible carcinogens believed to have come from the plant. Millions of dollars of grants have since been awarded to connect the homes to public drinking water mains.

“Clean drinking water is absolutely essential for all our residents,” Riverhead Town Supervisor Tim Hubbard had said.

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the  Farmingdale-based nonprofit Citizens Campaign for the Environment, emphasized that more needs to be done — and soon.

“The Navy started their PFAS investigation in 2016,” Esposito told reporters at the news conference. “They knew then, based on groundwater samples, that PFAS was in the Swan Lake area … leaching into the Peconic River. They spent 2017 and 2018 looking for new sites to test. And then in 2019 they wanted to test the soil.

“They have no plan,” she continued. “It’s been … nine years where they’ve known PFAS has been entering into the river and still no remedial cleanup plan to prevent it from continuing to happen and to protect the public health and our environment.”